Vianney History

THE HISTORY OF ST. JOHN VIANNEY HIGH SCHOOL

The year was 1960. Joseph Cardinal Ritter was the Shepherd of the St. Louis Archdiocese and Brother Kenneth Nesbit, S.M. was principal. The occasion was thirteen priests and Brothers of the Society of Mary and two lay faculty welcoming 19 seniors, 35 juniors, 35 sophomores, and 215 freshmen to St. John Vianney High School, a new high school in south St. Louis County. The name adopted was the name of a village priest in Ars, France, John Mary Vianney, known as the Cure of Ars.

Vianney High School was born out of necessity. For twenty years Eugene Coyle High School, a new high school in 1939 operated as a parish school for St. Peter’s parish in Kirkwood and the surrounding areas. The student body having outgrown the facilities at St. Peter’s parish and the migration of families to south St. Louis County prompted the archbishop to build a new high school–a private boy’s school. The Society of Mary was asked to sponsor the new school. The Society obliged the archbishop. The school was built on the grounds of Maryhurst, the novitiate for the Society of Mary. Thus, Coyle High School was closed and St. John Vianney High School opened in 1960.

It was in 1965 that the storm sewers were laid and permanent bleachers were erected, making way for the cinder track and the football field. Under the direction of Mr. Don Heeb, Athletic Director, and the leadership of Brother Jerry Bommer, S.M., Principal, 1977 opened a new era in high school athletics—Friday night football. Vianney was the first high school in the south country area to light its football field. Brother Jerry also oversaw the construction of the new art room in 1983.

Through the seventies, the academic program at Vianney maintained pretty much the status quo. Student enrollment was steady with two-hundred plus freshmen entering each year and lay men and women were added to the faculty as the enrollment and curriculum changes warranted. Following Brother Joe Grieshaber’s two-year term as principal, the sixth consecutive Marianist Brother to serve in that office, significant changes in the administrative structure and the governance of the school transpired. In 1986, Father Ade Windisch, S.M., was appointed the first president of Vianney High School. Mr. Lawrence Furrer, ’68 alumnus, assumed the educational leadership as the first lay principal in 1987. The same year a Board of Directors was put in place as the governing body of Vianney, and the next year Vianney was incorporated.

Following incorporation and with the blessing of the Board of Directors, a master plan was drawn up to improve the facilities of the football field and track, to unite the thirty-five acres into one campus, and to improve the flow of traffic onto the campus. The present stadium service building with restrooms, concession facilities and an expanded storage area was unveiled as part of Vianney Vision in 1989. The following year the all-weather track was installed. With all of these improvements in place, with Mr. Furrer’s resignation as principal, and with Father Ade in his last year as president, Father Richard Wosman, S.M. was named principal to a one-year term for the 1994-95 school year to assume the office of president upon the end of Father Ade’s term the next year.

The Board named Mr. Lawrence Keller to a three-year term to replace Father Richard as principal beginning with the 1995-96 school year. Mr. Keller’s vision for Vianney was unlimited. With his twelve years of experience as principal and his expertise in curriculum management and development, winds of change began to blow in the educational program that was in place since Vianney’s founding. It became clear that as the faculty absorbed, understood, and implemented the knowledge and input from various in-service days and workshops on how to be more effective teachers. The traditional seven-period, forty-eight minute lecture class could not accommodate the different learning styles and strategies necessary to teach students in the 90s. All research for an alternate school day pointed to the block schedule. The faculty voted almost unanimously to implement the 4×4 block for the 1997 fall semester. In May of that same year, Vianney received recognition as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education.

With the improvements in the physical plant and innovations in the academic programs, numbers have changed. The faculty and staff have increased more than three fold. The student body had almost tripled in size to an enrollment of 823 students. With the continuing increase in enrollment rivaling earlier decades, Father Richard anticipated the need for additional classrooms. In 1998 four new classrooms were built and a state-of-the-art weight room completed. Band classes were moved to renovated quarters in what was the Maryhurst print shop.

Father Robert Osborne, S.M. was appointed the third President of Vianney in 2001. He had the vision to further expand the facilities by adding a state of the art field house, a commons area, new administrative offices, four new classrooms and a new Griffin Gear Store. This also allowed for renovation of space for Campus Ministry, the Guidance Office, and the Business and Development offices. To date, this was the most aggressive capital campaign in the school’s history.

In July of 2007, Mr. Michael Loyet became the first lay President of St. John Vianney High. He was a graduate of Vianney in 1977. His leadership began with optimism for the people, mission and the potential greatness for Vianney. In 2007, the high school still sits on part of those thirty-five areas of Maryhurst property. The Brownhurst mansion coexists peacefully with the headquarters of the Lutheran Church of the Missouri Synod. Two large retail stores and a fast-food restaurant have replaced the Maryhurst novitiate building. The chicken coup was transformed into a makeshift classroom. Brother Mel Meyer’s large colorful abstract metal art creations dot the landscape and surround his art studio. The baseball field and soccer and football practice fields surround Maryhurst gym.

With the innovations that have been made in the academic program, and the improvements of the physical plant, Vianney has positioned itself for greatness well into the 21st century. The Vianney Family eagerly anticipates the celebration of their 50th year of educating young men in the Catholic, Marianist spirit in 2010.